Waterford police to honor peers Saturday

Waterford – In a special ceremony on Saturday as part of National Police Week, members of the town’s police department will honor 150 current and retired policemen as well as past police commissioners.

The ceremony begins at 3 p.m., in front of the police station on Avery Lane.

The names of the 150 policemen and past commissioners are engraved on a bricks that line the walkway into the police station.

A second monument underneath a tree on the side of the police station memorializes deceased members of the police department, Police Chief Murray J. Pendleton said Friday.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week.

A group of about a dozen Waterford officers wanted to do something special to recognize the officers as the foundations of the department, Pendleton said.

“We’re an organization that has a good record, cares about its community and works hard to be a part of it. Our cars say ‘In the best interest’ and that’s what I always tell our officers,” he said.

While Pendleton said the department hasn’t had any officers killed in the line of duty, he realizes “that can change tomorrow in today’s world.”

“We want to recognize them, the officers who are still living but retired … We’ve had some great cops who have done some great things and had some very famous cases,” he said.